Ventura-based collective Matterform are stepping into their next chapter with the announcement of their self-titled debut album, arriving July 19, 2026 via Lost Beat 6. Built on four years of live performance across the Ventura and Santa Barbara circuit, the record captures a band deeply rooted in groove, improvisation, and cinematic atmosphere.
Formed around a shared love of expansive instrumental music, Matterform channel acid jazz, funk, psychedelia, and lo-fi fusion into a sound that feels both exploratory and grounded. The result is a record designed for listeners chasing new instrumental discoveries—music that leans into mood, texture, and movement rather than convention.
Across the album, the band lean into what they describe as “cosmically adventurous and irresistible grooves,” a sentiment that threads through the project’s two early singles. The Miles Davis-inspired “Oxnardis” drifts with a laid-back sophistication, while “Toaster” brings a more urgent, charged energy, showcasing the band’s range between meditative flow and rhythmic propulsion.
Early praise for “Oxnardis” highlights its immersive quality, with Honk Magazine noting its “deep grooves, heavenly improvisation, and nighttime jazz harmonies,” describing it as both intimate and expansive—“like walking into a room with soft lighting where every sound is bright, pulsing, and ready to blow your mind.” Other responses point to its cinematic, floating quality and refined jazz sensibility, with Rádio Armazém calling it “cinematic and introspective.”
The band’s lineup reflects a multi-instrumental approach to arrangement and texture: Javier Avila (keys), Chet Toner (guitar/sax), Drew Espejo (drums), Zach Manpearl (bass/keys), and Tony Pelosi (guitar/art). Pelosi also contributes the visual identity of the release, with vinyl editions in preparation featuring his artwork—further extending Matterform’s emphasis on cohesive, immersive world-building.
Recorded in January 2025 and produced by Kentucky Clawson alongside Stephen Coler, the album sits comfortably alongside artists such as Khruangbin, Glass Beams, BADBADNOTGOOD, Tommy Guerrero, and Oma—acts known for blending jazz, funk, and global textures into contemporary instrumental language.
Across seven tracks—“Awakening,” “Oxnardis,” “Duster,” “Toaster,” “Paper,” “Weight,” and “Morpheus”—Matterform build a journey that moves through shifting moods and sonic landscapes. It’s an album that prioritises feeling over formality, designed as much for deep listening as it is for late-night immersion.
With their debut LP, Matterform position themselves as part of a growing wave of instrumental groups redefining modern jazz-adjacent music—less concerned with genre boundaries and more focused on atmosphere, rhythm, and the shared experience of sound.
